Chapter 275: Chapter 248: Return to the Forest

But after taking just a few steps, its vision went dark.

The Beaked Eagle swooped down, pinning it to the sand.

A few minutes later, the Island Giant Lizard gradually stopped moving and lay still on the beach.

But a large amount of blood was pooling beneath it.

Qin Ziwen glanced at the Hunting Celestial List task; it still showed 1/10.

That meant it wasn’t dead yet.

Compared to Thick-Headed Arrows, Tipped Arrows had greater Armor-Piercing Ability, but their killing width wasn’t enough. It was hard to kill such a large creature with a single shot, so all he could do was let it slowly bleed out.

’Looks like wider is better after all.’

’The thickness of the Arrow is justice itself.’

Afterward, Qin Ziwen began hunting Island Giant Lizards on the beach. This stretch of sand was a mile or two wide. The recent battle had alarmed some of the nearby lizards; for instance, behind a neighboring reef, two lizards that had just peeked out quickly retracted their heads.

They obediently hid themselves away again.

But on other parts of the beach, there was still a steady stream of lizards coming ashore to lay their eggs.

Qin Ziwen considered himself a merciful man. Before hunting these Island Giant Lizards, he would wait until after they had finished laying their eggs to make his move.

Through his tests, he found that the Thick-Headed Arrows were the most powerful, but they required a closer range. Beyond fifty meters, it was difficult to maintain their accuracy.

Next were the Tipped Arrows. As long as one hit a vital spot, even if the creature didn’t die immediately, it would be severely wounded, and its combat effectiveness would be drastically reduced.

The weakest—or rather, the least suitable for hunting these Sea Beasts—were the Wide-Headed Arrows.

Wide-Headed Arrows had the strongest bleeding effect. Their flat arrowheads were like tiny shovels.

After hitting a target, the spinning arrowhead would churn up the creature’s flesh, tearing a larger wound and causing continuous bleeding.

But for a large creature, unless you could land multiple arrows at once, it was too difficult to make it bleed out quickly from a single wound.

’Perhaps Wide-Headed Arrows are actually better suited for dealing with people.’

’For a human body, the size of the wound a Wide-Headed Arrow tears open is just about right.’

After an hour of hunting,

the task to hunt the Island Giant Lizards was successfully completed.

[Level 1 Hunting Celestial List Task Complete: Hunt 10 Adult Island Giant Lizards]

[Rewards Obtained: Level 2 Ordinary Building Card x1, 1 Point]

After completing the task, Qin Ziwen had planned to look for the Elephant Bird.

But after searching for only a short while, he saw a number of people from the Island’s interior holding torches and heading toward the beach.

Qin Ziwen chuckled. ’Looks like they’ve figured out someone is over here competing with them for the task.’

After all, they had been here for two days; there was no way they didn’t know what animals were on the Island.

It was even possible they had already started hunting in an attempt to complete the task themselves.

"Let’s go."

Qin Ziwen patted the Beaked Eagle’s head. Since the others were coming, it was time for them to leave.

In any case, he had completed one task. The objective was achieved.

On the way back, Qin Ziwen casually took out the Card. He wanted to see what he had received this time.

[Building Card] Level 2 Residence x1

A Level 2 Residence?!

The corners of Qin Ziwen’s mouth turned up.

Residence Cards were somewhat rare and not often seen.

With residences, the Home could recruit more people.

In his plans, buildings like residences held a very important position.

...

Back at the Military Equipment Supervisor.

Li Yue and the others were still working overtime at this hour.

Seeing Qin Ziwen return, Li Yue wiped his hands and came over to greet him. "Boss, I just saw on the Celestial Ladder List that a task was completed."

"I’m the one who completed it. This Crossbow of yours is good, just a bit on the heavy side. It might be difficult for an ordinary person to use." Qin Ziwen placed the One-Handed Crossbow on the table.

He relayed his user experience to Li Yue. "Reloading an Arrow would be tough for a normal person. It would either take two people working together, or they’d have to use their feet and core strength to do it."

Hearing this, Li Yue sighed. "There’s no helping it. With the strength of our current materials, this is the best we can do. We could only reduce its weight if we had a metal with the same hardness and toughness but was also lighter."

"But even if such a metal existed, it would be better suited for making armor. Using it for a Crossbow would be a bit of a waste."

Qin Ziwen thought of the Resource Upgrade Card he had gotten in a trade with Luo Gang.

’Maybe I should take the gamble now?’

The Iron Mine was currently Level 2. If he used the upgrade, its level would drop to 1.

But it was a gamble.

’If the new mineral vein isn’t a metal similar to iron, then most of the industries in the Home would have to shut down.’

After hesitating for a long time, Qin Ziwen put the Card away.

’I’ll think about advancing it once I have another Level 2 Iron Mine as a backup. After all, the advancement is random.’

Afterward, he went to the Ghost Ship Dock.

When Tao Fu saw Qin Ziwen, it was as if he’d seen his savior. He rushed over, exclaiming, "My Lord, the dock is short on wood!"

"How much do you need?"

Tao Fu said, "The more, the better. The Home is almost out of wood, and we have more than just this one ship to build."

Qin Ziwen fell into thought, wondering where he could quickly get more wood.

Suddenly, he thought of a place.

The initial forest map!

He hadn’t yet used the backtracking function since activating it. This was the perfect chance to try returning to the forest.

The forest might not have much else, but it definitely didn’t lack big trees.

The only issue was the tight time limit—only six hours.

That meant he couldn’t be short on people to chop the trees.

It would be best to send a large group. In six hours, they should be able to chop enough wood for several ships.

After some thought, Qin Ziwen decided to act tomorrow during the day. At this hour, almost everyone was asleep.

He found Jia Liangcai and gave him his instructions.

「The next day.」

Inside the Home, a long line had formed.

Many people carried axes, saws, and other tools. Some were their own, while others had been issued by the Home.

Walking to the front of the crowd, Qin Ziwen activated the backtracking function.

[Please select a map to backtrack to: 1. Forest, 2. Gobi Desert. Once opened, the passage will remain for 6 hours. Those who fail to return in time will become lost within the map.]

Qin Ziwen’s eyes fell on the last two words: "become lost."

He had wondered before what the consequences would be if someone didn’t return through the passage before the time limit expired.

Would they be permanently stuck in the original map, be forcibly brought back, or would there be some other penalty?

This "becoming lost" was likely the penalty for not returning in time.

As the thought crossed his mind, Qin Ziwen silently chanted, ’Forest.’

In that instant,

a bronze metal gate, four meters tall and three meters wide, suddenly materialized behind him, standing there silently.

Then, untouched, the gate swung inward on its own. A ray of dazzling light shone from beyond the threshold, casting onto the ground.

Within the Home, many people stared at the shocking scene.

Once the bronze gate was fully open, many people could see the familiar grasslands and the familiar forest through the doorway.

Some stood dumbfounded, their eyes suddenly turning red.

Others began to breathe heavily.

Only after experiencing the next two maps did many of them realize how "gentle" the first map had truly been.

There was no shortage of water, and resources were abundant.

Even the surrounding animals were so "harmless."

Even the Giant Toad that appeared at the end hadn’t caused any casualties. As long as you didn’t disturb it, you would be fine.

"Time is limited. Let’s move quickly. Go." With a wave of his hand, Qin Ziwen was the first to step through the gate.

...

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